Haying Now Finished at Willow and Hamel Rds.

Big, black clouds had dumped their rain on me and most of the rest of Medina when I turned onto Willow Road right off of Hamel.  I saw four hay wagons off in the distance, all lined up, waiting for someone to come, take photos. I thought, hey, there might be a story here, but went on my KIA-way.  

About 100 yards later I backed up, flasher on for safety, stopped the car, grabbed the iPhone, and, on the hunt, trekked into the field.  

You could feel the crunch under foot - freshly mown alfalfa hay. The ground was soft, like walking on a massive green mattress.  And the smell: you knew mowers and balers were recently here.

I was surprised that there were no tail lights on these wagons.  Just a triangle reflector which might do in a pinch.  These babies are likely not pulled by the big diesel John Deere's after night fall.

I checked out wagon 81, saw the ID number, discovered the dealer, Boll Equipment, was domiciled in Howard Lake, MN.  I don't know the town, don't think it's near Medina, wonder how far the wagons were pulled to get to the job.

The unloaded wagon was pretty clean, though a clump or two of the sweet grass remained caught up in the frame.

There were no bales of hay to be seen, anywhere.  Must have been trucked off to the barn.  And the big diesel Deere's were parked yards and yards away from the wagons.  When I saw the familiar yellow and green branding of the Deere's, and caught the beginning of rust on the hard-working rim, I knew I was on to some grand adventure.

"Beauty" shot of four wagons, at their rest, plenty of work ahead of them later this summer.  What I had seen was first hay harvest only.

Spring planting, tree care, deck restoration and bee removal around the old homestead.

Hard at work re-habbing the deck in our back yard is neighbor and friend, Bob the Builder.  Old cedar planks come up, and new treated pine goes back in its place.  Braces are added, precise measurements taken, everything is squared and leveled. Bob is a meticulous, creative, and very smart craftsman.  I'll post a "job done" foto soon so you can oohh and aahh over the deck as we have done.

The massive Sugar Maple you see here was taken down and hauled away by Rainbow Tree Care  this week.   The arborist walking across the photo is Brian, and he sawed away the canopy non-stop (I think Brian was in the bucket for 1 ½ hours) before the trunk could be felled.  The red helmet in the background belongs to the highly skilled "claw" operator.  The blue-hard hatted guy is foreman Eric. These guys did an awesome job.

Here's our neighbor and friend Dave presenting us with a the biggest hornet's nest we'd ever seen.  

And this cute young Chinese Cherry tree gets tucked into place by neighbor Bruce giving Poppina a hand.

Ireland's pre-historic Fort of Dun Angus.

My friend Ken Weir writes:

"Pre-historic fort on the cliff is Dun Angus. I went there when I was about 16 years old.
It stands on a cliff about 150 ft high; shear into the Atlantic."

05 . 06 . 16 -- 05 . 10 . 16: St. Paul, North Minneapolis, Minneapolis NE.

Jeremy, Ty and Shannon celebrate their first full year in business at St. Paul's Workhorse Coffee Bar. Cheers to these spirited young entrepreneurs, and best wishes for many more years of creating community at Workhorse, and making the best iced latte in town!

And on the subject of spirited entrepreneurs, good pal Dan Cramer 

is a founding member of 4th Street Guild -- a decades old, highly successful worker's cooperative of architects, furniture makers, lighting designers, and the occasional sculptor and metal craftsman.  The shop is located now in North Minneapolis; you can see Dan here, raising the main door to let in glorious Spring sunshine.  Or, is he, like a latter-day Atlas, just holding up the sky?  

Dan and I popped in at the MoJo Coffee Gallery on California St. for a hearty breakfast and more good conversation.  Each of us chose the daily special -- in this case the "La Bamba Bowl."  Very tasty scrambled eggs, veggies, likely some tofu, salsa, not sure I remember the rest of the ingredients.  The iced latte was special.  On the way out I stopped to admire the handmade pottery items for sale, ended up buying a mini Indian-style bowl for Mother's Day giving.

Anyone recognize this head mannequin?   He's sporting a MoJo ball cap and a pair of hand-made "Steampunk" goggles.  I'd seen the word steampunk in print, had no clue what it meant.  MoJo server Rick P. explained the term, suggested I buy a pair of the goggles -- only $125.00, plus tax.  "Tomorrow's antiques, today," was the way Dan put it.

Have I written about my involvement with Forecast Public Art in St. Paul, and their superb bi-annual magazine, Public Art Review? I'm an ad sales consultant, handling a number of ad accounts myself, and working with Executive Director Jack Becker (he's also Publisher of "PAR") and his team.  We just "closed" the Spring/Summer 2016 issue, and it's at the printers now.  The cover of PAR 54 looks like this.  The rest of the issue will be revealed to eager subscribers around the first of June.  You will be pleased, astonished, greatly rewarded for picking up the magazine, learning, as I have, about the breadth, depth and diversity of Public Art wherever in the world it appears. 

Cars and Trucks Shouting Loud and Proud.

A ‘Go’ Community

Getting people to come is important because you can’t have community without people, but getting people to come is not the end goal. We wanted to create a community that invites people to come experience being deeply known and loved, and an experience so compelling that they become eager to go—to go free the prisoner, feed the hungry, comfort the grieving, love the addicted and mentally anguished, house the homeless and ‘stand in and close the gap’ between those who have what they need to fulfill their God-given potential and those who do not.

Descent Into Love is available here.

K. Killian Noe
Source: Descent Into Love: How Recovery Cafe Came to Be

Minneapolis Bike Shop, ca. 1950 - all coaster brakes, all the time.

Saw this pic at the Hennepin County History Museum.  No date or store name/address on the frame, but the bikes are of a certain vintage: heavy steel frames, balloon tires, coaster brakes, two-tone fenders (steel, again), nary a Sturmy-Archer 3-speed shifter in sight.  No hand brakes, either. Check out that Junior version in center of photo:  was there a kid in America back then who didn't dream of getting this for his 6th birthday?

I was the mighty proud owner in that era of a Schwinn Phantom . It came from the J.M. Repple shop on Water Street, in Chillicothe, Ohio, my home town. My Phantom was red and white (I think) with plenty of chrome. 

The ride was comfy as could be:  Mr. Schwinn saw to that by installing a rough-road dampening shock absorber called "Knee Action."

Battery operated horn in the "tank" hanging from the top tube.  Driving light on chrome front fender, and I think there may have been a brake light built into tail light assembly.

Top of the line?  Almost, but not quite.  That honor belonged to the Schwinn Black Phantom.  Mr. best buddy Fritz H. was the lucky owner of one of those.

Nicollet and environs last week.

Bikes for Rent at Chloe's Antiques, Hamel, MN.

My new friend Al from Whidbey and his Jeep: a helluva fine guy and a spectacularly unique paint job.

Al spent his career "pulling fish" off the coast of Alaska. A commercial fisherman who first went to sea at the age of 12,  Al is retired now, a part-year resident of Whidbey Island, WA (my sister and brother-in-law live there also), and a snowbird neighbor of mine in Arizona. 

I ran into Al at the car wash yesterday.  Just HAD to stop and chat about the paint job on the Jeep.  Took him two weeks to get the work done.  Paint shop was in Oak Harbor, WA.  Icons include key pieces of the owner's life:  Alaska mountain and volcano terrain, commercial trawler at work, even the Northern Lights reproduced here on the hood and front fenders of Al's CJ-5.

Get custom made velo head badges from Scott at Insigniaworks.com

InsigniaWorks' Shop Announcement

• • • These are custom, etched metal bike head badges, personalized plaques for memorials, Airstream trailers, chicken coops and benches. Etched in brass or nickel, they can be personalized with your name, logo, artwork, etc. Choose one of my designs, or have me create one for you. They attach to your bike with exterior strength 3M tape. Plaques come with brass or silver screws. 

For information on how to order, please go to my "About" page.

Email: skaman1 [!at] mac.com. Phone : 760-525-1908. Made in good 'ol U.S.A.

Want to find out more? Check out this shop's About page.

I discovered custom head badge artist Scott via an ad in current issue of Adventure Cyclist.  Went to Scott's site insigniaworks.com, and am designing one of my own as we speak.  

Cat Stevens crooned about the Peace Train. Maybe he'll reprise the ballad, call it Peace Bike!

 West Village, NYC, summer 2013.  More of us could be singing about peace, pedaling in support of the concept.  Ride on!

Classic Fords, Caddies, RV's and Fast Food Trailers.

One of the great joys of being on the road (on a bike, in a car, hoofing it on foot) is discovering the range and variety of modes of transport.  Check out the gallery below.  I'll tell you a little bit about each vehicle.

Low ridin' El Dorado, with skirts, nearly scrapes the sidewalk outside a classic car showroom in Arizona.

What do you think?  Maybe '54 or '55 Ford?  RV of undetermined age but definitely older than the Ford wagon.  Sister of Charity statue ouside church on main drag keeps close watch on the rig, makes sure no one jumps behind the wheel, jumps the wires, and heads back to mid-Century.

I think we saw this one in Santa Monica.  License plate sorta says it all:  "we know our market and we're proud."

Not necessarily gear heads shop here, but tees and caps likely appeal to road runners of all persuasions in the Road Runner State.

Cowgirl Up! Artist Liz Wolf: One of a kind Whimsical Sculptor.

 Liz titled this one "The Jokester," an avian version of esteemed kachari.

 "Little Bird" is made of clay and wood, unlike "Jokester," a more classic bronze sculpture.

And here's a portrait of the artist.  We met Santa Fe sculptor Liz Wolf last weekend at Cowgirl Up! art show in Wickenburg.  Liz has a storied background, is richly talented and, as you can see by the red dots on the cards adjacent to her pieces, her work sells!

And why her whimsical streak?  Maybe it's because the artist grew up in St. Paul, MN, where her dad managed the St. Paul Hotel -- and Liz lived in an apt. on the top floor, just like Heloise!

FIAT Cinquecento, ca. 1973

I met this classic Italian mini-car today in Wickenburg, AZ.  Ain't she a beauty! A group of fellow admirers gathered quickly - kind of like a flash mob.  One lady said:  "I had one of those!  It was bright orange."  A man about my age remarked:  "I was a GI in Europe in the '60's, and was forbidden from riding around in such a teeny car."

The owner of this sweet 'mobile reports that this model was a 1973, the last year FIAT manufactured these cars.  He bought it overseas and the restoration had been done by then.  Paint job looks better than new.

Our admiring flash mob watched with longing as the '500' roared to life, backed up, turned on a dime (maybe a euro or lira would be more appropriate) and sped away.  Well, not exactly sped away.

Moved with purpose, elan, grace and style might be more like it.